3-month-old Babies Can Tell the Difference between Dogs and Cats

3-month-old Babies Can Tell the Difference between Dogs and Cats

3-month-old babies can form categorical representations from looking at silhouettes of cats and dogs but they can only do this when looking at a silhouette of the animal's head.  It appears, that the body is too similar.  I presume that the phrase “categorical representations" means that a baby of 3 months of age can tell the difference between cats and dogs when observing the clear outline of the head of both animals.

I don't know how this impacts upon parenting of a child but it might. This information may surprise some parents.  I have never been a parent but it seems an extraordinarily young age for a child to be able to differentiate between two species of companion animal.

Perhaps the information will enlighten some parents to the fact that children are incredibly sensitive to visual images and are able to form representations based on what they see.  To me, it would indicate that very young children are soaking up information from the very beginning of their life and having a cat and dog around the home is going to impact upon the child's education about these animals and their care.

This is a link to a summary of the study.  You can make of it what you will but, as stated, my interpretation is that 3 to 4-month-old babies can tell the difference between dogs and cats.